Having lost the leader's jersey to Matthew Goss in yesterday's second round of the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic, Zakkari Dempster managed to regain possession of the coveted tunic by going on the attack on the tough circuit in Portarlington in the third race of the series. Describing his fourth place as the hardest and most significant of his life, Dempster is now ready to give his utmost to become the overall winner of the prestigious series.

As the first road races of the year, the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic is often a slight indication of who's going to have a great season. Based on the first three days of the four-race series, 2014 could be the year when 26-year-old Zakkari Dempster finally reveals the true extent of his potential.

The NetApp-Endura rider lines up at the event as part of the SASI team and he proved that he is in great form right from the beginning of the season when he won the race on the opening day. Having made it into the decisive 7-rider breakaway, he used his abilities as a strong sprinter to beat his companions in the final dash to the line to get hold of the first leader's jersey in the series.

Being part of the NetApp-Endura sprint train, Dempster has plenty of experience in the bunch kicks and he managed to take 10th for himself in a sprint in last year's Vuelta a Espana. However, he came up short against the likes of Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Caleb Ewan (Subaru NSWIS) on day 2 where he could only manage 9th in the mass sprint.

This allowed Goss to take over the jersey but when the racing resumed on the toughest course of the series in Portarlington, Dempster set out with the mission of reclaiming the coveted tunic. Instead of waiting for a final sprint, he went on the attack and made it into the original 11-rider breakaway.

Unfortunately, he was unaware when the decisive move was launched by eventual winner Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Patrick Shaw (Satalyst) but he refused to give up. Having been caught by the peloton, he tried to bridge across on his own.

That mission failed but when he was joined by Tom Scully (Total Rush/Hyster Racing) from behind, he managed to stay away from the peloton all the way to the finish. Getting dropped by his companion in the closing stages, he took 4th but as Goss was unable to score any points on the day, he finds himself back in the overall lead with just one day to go.

“That was probably the hardest, most (significant), fourth place of my whole life,” he said. “I laid it all out there and it’s good to come out of it with something other than a fourth place, leading into tomorrow which is a real honour in a series like this."

His only regret is to have let Durbridge go in the opening stages of the race.

“I got a bit boxed in when Durbridge went," he said. "Luke is one of my good mates and if you give him 50 metres you might as well give him a kilometre so that was a big mistake by me and I paid for it for about 35 minutes.

“Initially for three laps I went really really all out and then I continued going all out but it was two against one, well really three against one because Luke is like two.”

Dempster's lead is a narrow one, with 2nd placed Brenton Jones (Procon Telematics’) only trailing him by one single point. Furthermore, Durbridge, Goss and defending champion Ewan are all within 5 points of his lead.

Tomorrow's final race in Williamstown is more of a traditional criterium for sprinters which could play into the hands of Goss and Ewan. However, Dempster will give it his all to succeed Ewan as the overall winner in the prestigious event.

“We will have a crack,” he said. “There are so many guys that are going to be mixed in.  If we sit down tonight it would take us six hours to get through every possible scenario.”